1993 Newmar Mountain Aire Gray water tank problem

[harley0711]

Iam a retired firefighter trying to help a very good friend.. He has a 93 Newmar Mountain Aire that has a L/shaped gray water tank Crack/leak at the "L" corner.. Looks like the tank HAS to come out to be repaired - That is where the problem lies - HOW to get the tank out.. I offered to post the problem on the internet hoping to find an owner who has already solved this problem... Thanks for your advice and help

harley0711@yahoo.com

Not even sure if I am in the right area...

[harley0711]

Iam a retired firefighter trying to help a very good friend.. He has a 93 Newmar Mountain Aire that has a L/shaped gray water tank Crack/leak at the "L" corner.. Looks like the tank HAS to come out to be repaired - That is where the problem lies - HOW to get the tank out.. I offered to post the problem on the internet hoping to find an owner who has already solved this problem... Thanks for your advice and help

harley0711@yahoo.com

Not even sure if I am in the right area...

[CSX4350]

Howdy Harley, and welcome to iRV2! I can't help you out, but you are in the right place for sure. Someone will chime in and give you some good advise, I'm sure. It may take a few days due to the Christmas season, but someone will help you out.
Your friend needs to join up, there is a wealth of knowledge here, and some of the friendliest folks around to boot.

[harley0711]

I will contact hime tomorrow with a link to the forum and have him join and chime in..

[harley0711]

John - just noticed your "toys", very nice... BTW, I am available for adoption...lol

[DonnaB]

Harley,

For your friend....we had a 1992 Kountry Star with the L-shaped holding tanks. I'm so sorry to hear of your issue as we had exactly the same thing and know what it's like. The problem is not only the design, but the aging factor with the materials used.

We first developed a crack at the L bend in the gray water tank and took it to a dealer to see if repair could be done. They advised that it could not be fixed and must be replaced, which we did. Unfortunately we didn't have them both replaced at the same time....

Three months later a crack developed in the same general location on the black water tank. Don did not want to spend another $1200 to replace the 2nd one as we were getting ready to buy our new coach and sell that one. So, at first we attempted repair with some sort of bonding material (can't remember exactly) made for that material. After that failed he tried using Eternabond as that also came highly recommended. That also failed and ultimately we had to have the 2nd tank replaced too.

I believe the repairs failed because of the inherent problem with the design to begin with. The failure occurs at the weak spot in the design and where the most pressure is applied as the tank fills. I don't think a long term fix is possible with this design. If I had your friends issue...knowing what I know now....I would replace both tanks and forget about fixing them.

You can probably purchase and get replaced cheaper than we did if you can avoid the exhorbitant dealer price structure, but you would have to know what you are doing. We didn't so we paid. To remove the tank you must remove the wet bay panel (lots of plumbing connections on the back side of it). The rear of the tanks can be accessed by unscrewing a small panel toward the top of one of the rear bays on the passenger side of the vehicle. Obviously, you will have to redo all connections to the tank and all the plumbing at the panel when you re-do. That dealer may be looking better now.

My very best regards and I wish you a speedy and successful fix. Ours worked great after we had it done.

[GaryKD]

Hi,
Welcome to iRV2. Consider trying this first. In the past few years, advancements in epoxys and glues have been considerable.

[harley0711]

I do thank everyone for their advice - I really do like using forums for problems like this... I use forums for my Harley and right now I am trying to deal with a Garmin GPS issue on a forum.. Today is Christmas, I plan to call my friend later and get this link to him so he can register and log on here. Please check back later for more...